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NCAA Football Recap (Mississippi St-Texas)
Posted: Fri January 1, 1999 at 6:40 p.m. EST DALLAS (Ticker) -- After a slow start, Ricky Williams spent the second half of the Cotton Bowl reminding Mississippi State that he is the Heisman Trophy winner. In his final college game, Williams ran for 203 yards and two touchdowns and Texas shut down Mississippi State, 38-11, for its first New Year's Day bowl win in 17 years. Williams capped one of the greatest seasons in college football history with an awesome second half as he ran around, past and through the Bulldogs' defense. He even struck the Heisman pose on his first score, a 37-yard scamper early in the third quarter that broke open the game. "It's something the guys have tried to get me to do all year," Williams said. "I wanted to wait till I had won it. I knew today we were far enough ahead that the penalty wouldn't hurt us." Later in the period, Williams had the Bulldogs believing he had been bronzed like the trophy itself. He took a screen pass down the left sideline and drilled cornerback Kendall Roberson, who barely held on for the tackle and was woozy for several seconds afterward. With 2:42 left in the quarter, the 6-foot, 225-pound Williams completely bowled over cornerback Anthony Derricks on a two-yard TD run. "He's very good," Derricks admitted. "He certainly deserves the Heisman. He's the best running back I've ever played against. I've played against many good running backs, and he's the best." The all-time Division I-A leader in rushing and total yardage, Williams carried 30 times in his 12th career 200-yard game as he set a school record for rushing yardage in a bowl game. He also caught five passes for 45 yards. "After the Heisman stuff, going to Orlando and going home for Christmas, it was tough to get back in shape," Williams said. "When I got here this morning, I was hoping my pants would still fit." "There was a rumor that Ricky had gotten fat, but I think he looked good today," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "Ricky's going to have a tremendous career in the NFL." Texas Gov. George W. Bush declared the day "Doak Walker Day" in honor of the 50th anniversary of Walker's Heisman Trophy year. Today also was the 50th anniversary of the Southern Methodist star's second straight Cotton Bowl Most Valuable Player award. On what would have been Walker's 72nd birthday, his four children attended the game and served as marshals of Thursday's parade. Williams, a two-time winner of the Doak Walker Award as the nation's top running back, met the legend last year and began a friendship with him. Walker's famous was painted on each 37-yard line in his honor. Against Oklahoma earlier this year, Williams wore Walker's 37 instead of his usual and dedicated a TD run to his friend and idol. "I was definitely thinking about him," Williams said. "The team came out and played for Doak. I was looking at his number every time I crossed the 37-yard line. I wanted to give him a great birthday present and was happy we were able to do that. One of my touchdowns was a 37-yarder." "What I like about Ricky Williams is more than him being a football player," Brown said. "He's a nice young man who does things right and he does it with a lot of class. He's a very classy young man who cares about people." Williams provided 75 yards on 15 decoy carries in the opening half, when freshman Major Applewhite found Wane McGarity for a pair of long TD passes. Applewhite also connected with Kwame Cavil to cap a 24-point third quarter and was 15-of-26 for 225 yards. All three of his scoring tosses came against the blitz. "There's no question that Ricky sets everything in motion because if they don't stop him, we're going to move the ball on the ground," Brown said. "The offensive line is also a big key to that." The Longhorns (9-3) also got a huge effort from their defense, which chased an ineffective Wayne Madkin to the bench and did not allow a touchdown until the fourth quarter, when the game was well in hand. Playing in the Cotton Bowl for the first time since a 46-3 loss to Miami in 1991, Texas won a traditional January 1st game for the first time since 1982, when it beat Alabama 14-12, also in the Cotton Bowl. It had lost its last four "New Year's Day" games but improved to 18-18-2 in bowl games and 10-9-1 in the Cotton Bowl. It was the fourth straight postseason loss for Mississippi State (8-5), which has not won a bowl game since the 1981 Hall of Fame Bowl. Nevertheless, the Bulldogs enjoyed their best season since 1994. "In the second half and the third quarter, we couldn't do very much on either side of the football," MSU coach Jackie Sherrill said. Madkin was benched for one series in the first half and for good in the third quarter. He was just 4-of-16 for 49 yards and an interception before being replaced by Matt Wyatt, who completed 12-of-24 passes for 156 yards, including a five-yard TD toss to Lahitia Grant with 10:07 to play. "We replaced Wayne with Matt because this was the type of game where we had to throw the ball more," Sherrill said. With MSU clearly committed to slowing down Williams, McGarity caught four passes for 132 yards. He hauled in a 59-yard bomb from Applewhite with 2:17 remaining in the opening quarter to cap a 97-yard drive. McGarity struck again with 5:11 left in the second quarter. He caught a slant pass from Applewhite, broke a tackle, sped into the secondary and broke another tackle for a 52-yard TD and a 14-0 lead. "They play a defense that takes a lot of chances and we took advantage of that and made it a weakness," McGarity said. In the first half, Williams was outrushed by James Johnson, who had 105 yards on 14 carries. Johnson's hard running set up a 39-yard field goal by Brian Hazelwood with 2:32 left, but another kick just before halftime was blocked by Aaron Humphrey. Williams took over in the third quarter, when Texas scored on all four of its possessions. His punishing run with the screen pass set up a 47-yard field goal by Kris Stockton with 6:39 to go in the period and he scored again under four minutes later, making it 31-3. "Ricky did what he has done all year -- he hit the hole with speed and power," Applewhite said. "One time over on the sidelines, he ran over poor (Roberson)." On the ensuing possession, MSU went for it on 4th-and-1 from its own 20 but Johnson was stopped for a one-yard loss. Texas shut down Johnson in the second half, limiting him to seven yards on eight carries. On the next play, Applewhite found Cavil in the right corner of the end zone. Texas held a 463-292 advantage in total yards as it handed MSU coach Jackie Sherrill his first loss in his last eight games against the Longhorns.© 2000 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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